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Chapter XIII: Love.

How Is Consciousness Love?, Relationship Love Is Based on Duality, Who Is the Devotee? Conversion of Emotion into Devotion, Devotion with Qualities, Prayer Is Not Worship, Devotion Is Knowledge and Action, Devotion Is Free Will, Worship of Symbols, Worship of the Formless Self.

I think many of you will find delight in the following story of a blissful farmer singing Narayana, Narayana, Narayana everytime he starts or ends something

"Wherever he went, Sage Narada only said “Narayana, Narayana.” Narada had a passport for all the three worlds – he freely traveled everywhere. One day, he saw a farmer plowing his land in a state of ecstasy and bliss. Narada was eager to find out what the secret of his bliss was. When he approached the farmer to talk to him, the farmer did not even notice him, so engrossed he was in plowing his land. At noon time, he took a break from his work and went to eat under a tree. He opened the container with whatever little food he had and just said “Narayana, Narayana, Narayana” and started eating. The farmer wanted to share the meal with him, but because of the caste system, Narada would not eat with him. Narada inquired, “What is the source of your bliss?” The farmer said, “Every day, Narayana appears in his true form to me. That is the source of my bliss.” Narada asked him, “What sadhana do you do?” The farmer said, “I don’t know anything. I’m an ignorant, illiterate man. It is just that when I wake up in the morning, I say ‘Narayana’ three times. When I start my work, I say ‘Narayana’ three times. When I end my work, I say ‘Narayana’ three times. When I eat, I say ‘Narayana’ three times. When I go to bed, I say ‘Narayana’ three times.” Narada calculated how many times in 24 hours he himself was saying ‘Narayana.’ It ran into millions. But still, if he wanted to see Narayana, he had to go all the way to Vaikuntha[1], which was a long journey. But to this farmer, who just said “Narayana” three times, before eating, before plowing and whatever else, Narayana came right there. Narada thought this is not fair, it must be some kind of a mistake.

Immediately, he made his journey to Vaikuntha and asked Vishnu, “I say your name all the time, but you don’t appear for me. I have to come and see you. But to this farmer, you appear every day and he is living in ecstasy!” Vishnu looked at Narada, asked Lakshmi to get a vessel filled to the brim with oil, and told Narada, “First, there is an errand to be done. Please take this vessel full of oil to Bhuloka without spilling a drop, leave it there, and come back. We will answer the question later.” Narada took the vessel with oil, went to Bhuloka, left it there, and came back. “Now, answer my question.” Vishnu asked, “When you were carrying this vessel full of oil, how many times did you utter ‘Narayana?’” Narada said, “How could I say ‘Narayana’ at that time? You said not a drop should spill, so I had to pay attention to that. But coming back, I’ve said many ‘Narayanas.’” Vishnu said, “That is the whole thing. This farmer’s life is like carrying a vessel full of oil that may spill any moment. He has to earn his food; he has to do so many things. In spite of that, he is saying ‘Narayana.’ When you carried the oil in this vessel, not once did you utter ‘Narayana.’ When you have nothing to do, it is easy.”

Hi Georg,Hope you are well! Thanks for this lovely story. And so humbling. I will explore the website too.

I had actually read the story in an Indian picture book called Amar Chitra Katha. This is a series of picture books which have all the stories of Indian mythology (including Mahabharata, Ramayana and tales of Krishna, Shiva, Shakti, Ganesh, Indra, Narada and all the sages Vyasa etc.--also stories of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain folk tales--in fact every mythological character you can think of!).

They are fun to read and they cover the entire spectrum of Indian mythology. You can get them online in the US--but not sure about Germany. But its totally light reading, not quite Panchadasi .

georgschiller wrote:"Wherever he went, Sage Narada only said “Narayana, Narayana.” Narada had a passport for all the three worlds – he freely traveled everywhere. One day, he saw a farmer plowing his land in a state of ecstasy and bliss. Narada was eager to find out what the secret of his bliss was. When he approached the farmer to talk to him, the farmer did not even notice him, so engrossed he was in plowing his land. At noon time, he took a break from his work and went to eat under a tree. He opened the container with whatever little food he had and just said “Narayana, Narayana, Narayana” and started eating. The farmer wanted to share the meal with him, but because of the caste system, Narada would not eat with him. Narada inquired, “What is the source of your bliss?”

The farmer said, “Every day, Narayana appears in his true form to me. That is the source of my bliss.” Narada asked him, “What sadhana do you do?” The farmer said, “I don’t know anything. I’m an ignorant, illiterate man. It is just that when I wake up in the morning, I say ‘Narayana’ three times. When I start my work, I say ‘Narayana’ three times. When I end my work, I say ‘Narayana’ three times. When I eat, I say ‘Narayana’ three times. When I go to bed, I say ‘Narayana’ three times.”

That is why the Narada bhakti-sutras are not applied by modern/traditional advaita-vedanta any longer. The understanding of what Narada said at the core of his teachings by his modern (nowerday) devotees is just plain and outright WRONG.

The basic message of Narada, in his bhakti sutras, is:

You free your family-tree by devotion. And if that is done, you become a jnani. And then, by that, there isn't a such thing as a bhakta any longer. You become a warrior, a (non-violent) fighter for Truth.

May I ask where you are from? Have we seen each other in some of the recent german seminars by James?

Regarding your post:

"Nix devotion. Only wisdom counts. That is the end of the bhakti-path."

I do understand what you mean but if formulated like this it sounds rather reductionstic and dualistic.

I rather see wisdom feeding bhakti, at least that was/is my experience

Hey George,

I live in Hamburg. Holding up the flag all alone here up in the north, it seem.

Good you appreciate the action-part of my posts. I'm a bit opinionated sometimes. But that's just the way I'm wired now. I speak my mind without restricting the flow of thoughts that pop into it.

And yes, I know what you mean when you say it sounds reductionstic what I stated. Let me make it more clear: In my understanding too much bhakti weakens the sharpness of the mind. Actually it's like walking. One foot is bhakti and one foot is wisdom. But soccer players, for example, mostely have a strong foot with which they kick better.

And although I might sound a bit confrontational once in a while, I know for sure that my intentions are good.

By the way, if someone here plans to visit my home-town, Hamburg, feel free to contact me via PM. I have room for (traditional) advaita-vedanta satsangies to accomodate them. For free, of course.

I don't know, maybe I am gonna take a look at Yoga of Love again and put some nice quotes in here to foster my point

regarding left/right-handed people, actually we can train very quickly to write with the other hand (piano or keyboard is a good example for using both hands with some training). The same goes for spirituality: if somebody is only into knowledge, then it is nice addition to foster bhakti

by the way, if you like to have arguments, you should check out 'james swartz' on facebook, there is always something going on, always somebody arguing; in case you are looking for that (it is indeed a great practice for dispassion and compassion, or at least see how much the mind still gets agitated)

georgschiller wrote:I don't know, maybe I am gonna take a look at Yoga of Love again and put some nice quotes in here to foster my point

regarding left/right-handed people, actually we can train very quickly to write with the other hand (piano or keyboard is a good example for using both hands with some training). The same goes for spirituality: if somebody is only into knowledge, then it is nice addition to foster bhakti

by the way, if you like to have arguments, you should check out 'james swartz' on facebook, there is always something going on, always somebody arguing; in case you are looking for that (it is indeed a great practice for dispassion and compassion, or at least see how much the mind still gets agitated)

As someone who practized bhakti-yoga for a long period of time, I'm not arguing against bhakti-yoga, like at all. And yes, using both hands is of course what is needed to balance out the brain-hemispheres.

And no, I'm not interested in debates on face-book. I'm not a face-book member yet and I don't plan to become one.

Seems as if we can't argue further. Which is fine with me. Im not into conflict for the sake of conflict. If there is no conflict, then there isn't. Perfect.